The education system of Turkmenistan is increasingly being integrated into the international educational system for obtaining qualifications, which causes countless disputes and weighing all the pros and cons of applicants and their parents. In this article, ORIENT will try to study the direction in which the education system of Turkmenistan is moving and answer the question — what kind of future awaits it.

Everyone who has ever tried to enroll in a Turkmen university, when filling out the necessary documents, immediately came across the column hünärmen or bakalawr, which translates as "specialist" and "bachelor", respectively. Those to whom the differences between these terms were explained as concisely as possible, something like: "Specialists – three pairs of 5 years," "bachelors – two pairs of four years," we hasten to stop you and not be led to such a definition! Because these two educational programs have a fundamentally different approach and vision for obtaining qualifications. Therefore, we advise you to familiarize yourself with these concepts in a little more detail. And representatives of those two irreconcilable systems — students of the specialty and bachelor's degree will help us in this.

The honor of bachelors will be defended by Maria Ablisenova, a student of the D.Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages:

— A bachelor's degree is, in fact, a completed higher education. The first stage of the Bologna system of Education, which aims to standardize education systems for all participating countries of this process. It is primarily aimed at expanding students' opportunities to gain knowledge and is based on practice. Secondly, bachelors will have the opportunity to get additional education abroad or at another university, having received a second higher education after receiving a second scientific degree — a master's degree.

You can enter the master's program only with a bachelor's degree for in-depth study of the chosen profession.

Like any other system of education, the bachelor's degree has its advantages, which give an advantage over other educational systems. These include a short period of education: to obtain a bachelor's degree, a student needs to study for 4 years, unlike a specialist. In a short time, students gain more theoretical knowledge by practicing on their own. Because of this, they have separate hours allocated for practice.

Another advantage is the possibility of changing the specialty. It opens up great prospects for a student to obtain a double degree, and as a result — expands the possibility of professional orientation. After receiving a bachelor's degree, students are not required to continue working in their chosen specialty, and they can easily change their profession.

Unambiguously, the advantages include the fact that many countries have recently switched to the Bologna system, which, in turn, opens up the opportunity for undergraduate students to continue their studies or work in other countries. Employers are very eager to accept students from abroad who are not related to a specific specialty.

At the moment, almost all Turkmen universities are gradually switching to the Bologna system. But in Turkmenistan, it is integrated, as for me, much more successfully. For example, unlike most other countries participating in the process, we have budget places, and much attention is also paid to theoretical training, despite the focus on practice. Thus, we have scholarships and a sufficient number of lectures. We have been studying for 4 years, and in the future we can enroll in a master's degree, where the duration of study ranges from 1 to 2 years, depending on the university.

Meylis Matjiev, a student of the specialty of the Turkmen State Institute of Architecture and Construction, has a completely different point of view:

— The specialty has proven its effectiveness for many years and relied on obtaining a wide range of knowledge in many fields of science. At the moment, the specialty program is still available in many leading Turkmen universities, whose qualifications are very relevant at the moment, take at least the Turkmen State Medical University, where all specialties are within the traditional educational system.

Of course, it is very important to keep up with the times and apply international experience, but the specialty is completely based on applied scientific research and in-depth work with theoretical material. That is, if we are talking about conquering engineering, technical and medical professions, then a specialty is what you need.

A distinctive feature of our training program is a monthly certification for the assimilation of the material passed, the use, as a rule, of a ticket examination system and, of course, diploma defense, which later allows you to enter graduate school, and, more notably, to join international education programs, that is, the opportunity to continue to gain knowledge as a master.

The duration of training under the specialty program is 5 years or more, despite the fact that the hourly load is much more than that of bachelors. This is primarily due to the critical complexity of the chosen specialty and the need for a more in-depth study of the material provided.

The peculiarity of the Turkmen specialty is not only theoretical, but also practical application of knowledge, thanks to specially designated practice programs.

Total

We see that the Bologna system is being intensively integrated in Turkmenistan, but at the same time, the specialty continues to be preserved in many Turkmen universities. At the same time, both educational programs exist in Turkmen universities with their own characteristics.

So we found out that the bachelor's degree is rather about brevity, practice and mobility, and the specialty is about depth, theory and stability. And despite the fact that the bachelor's degree is increasingly seeping into Turkmen universities, the specialty is steadfastly standing on its feet. This means that the future of the national education system is not in the application of a specific template program, but the use of only those elements from these programs that are really necessary for a Turkmen student to acquire skills and knowledge.

Arslan MAMEDOV